Public support for the rail strike is increasing – politicalbetting.com

This polling from Opinium is really quite remarkable because it is very rare for there to be public backing of industrial action that is going to make the daily lives of many people even harder.
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The Elizabeth Line serves Sam Tarry's Ilford South, but NOT Wes Streeting's Ilford North
Other union leaders and Labour politicians need to up their act.
I think Iain Sinclair has gone to the south coast somewhere.
I wonder if SCOTUK will ask to see the legislation.
I'm expecting SCOTUK to eventually rule that an advisory referendum is outside the powers of the Scotland Act.
Then if it is an election campaign, how do you sort out the franchise issue, which means if we use the GE campaign as a proxy, 16 and 17 years are buggered, expect legal action.
The BT strike may end up more damaging
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10955595/WFH-hit-BT-staff-strike-threat-millions-face-tremendous-disruption.html
He will still have to compete for Britain though as this UK government is still not going to allow any change to the status of the union
His experience, under Heath and Thatcher, was that folk are angered by strikes. But, after about a week, then start to ask "What is the government doing about it?" Thatcher had a narrative about what she was doing about it. Heath didn't.
"Nowt to do with us whatsoever", which appears to be the chosen line of this lot, isn't a convincing explanation.
No need to wonder why.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_whisky
The rest - mostly - think it's a debate about exactly when the line should be drawn, and what exemptions there should in the event of threat to the mothers' life, rape, etc.
Some people in the 40% will think 10 weeks. Others 20. Most aren't particularly keen on abortion, but think blanket bans are a bad idea.
Between now and the end of the year will be some pretty horrendous stories. There will be women who will commit suicide because they are unable to get an abortion. Stories will come out about teenagers raped by their uncle or teacher and forced to carry a baby to term. And there will be well publicized medical emergencies where both baby and mother die, because of the inability to secure an abortion under any circumstances in certain states.
At the same time, the loonies will start pushing "fetal personhood laws". And anyone who has had a miscarriage (which will be most women) will start feeling the beginnings of discomfort. As will pretty much every Obsgyn and Primary Care Provider.
All these stories will weigh on the 40%. And that's the real danger for the Republicans. If they're pushing for fetal personhood, while the Dems are focusing on the raped teenager who committed suicide... Then I think the transwars will be forgotten (for the moment).
The Dems have caught a massive break. Whether it's enough to save them in November is another story altogether.
"If Noel-Tod wants to argue Soyinka is as good a poet as Larkin, fair enough, but his argument doesn’t reference art or merit. He is treating poetry as a sub-set of sociology — arguing that we should read non-white poets because they offer us insights into social and political issues."
"Decolonising the curriculum takes place at a superficial level, whereas I taught Larkin to my students because his poems move me at a visceral level: they convey the sense that, yes, this is what it is like to be haunted by fear and loneliness and impotence."
https://unherd.com/2022/06/black-kids-should-study-larkin/
Enshrined in any pro-life law should be compulsory maternity and child support paid by the father to the mother in order that the consequences to fathers exist, not just to mothers.
Sympathies may change downstream if people feel the consequences of an inflationary spiral caused by rampant strike action all over the shop but we're not there yet.
I can imagine a few answers to that, but none which would approach 30% of the population.
Eilian Siar? Naw, it's me enkel.
https://mobile.twitter.com/RhonddaBryant/status/1542226458231406594
I’m honoured to receive the Politician of the Year at this year’s Civility in Politics Awards. The award comes with a £1500 donation to my choice of charity which will be Mabon Trust.
Which should help the Democrats in critical midterm races. Question is, will it be enough?
The railways workers did not cause inflation.
It wouldn't be inflationary, as it is below inflation.
If it were then used as a benchmark for the private sector, and for director's pay and dividends, and pensions and benefits uprating, and bonuses in the financial sector, it would be a tool for screwing down a potential wage/price spiral.
Shame those who breach it. Or fail to meet it.
It would have the benefit of at least being a policy. And could be seen as consistent, fair and equitably shared.
I don't see why I should do the government's thinking job for them, but there we are.
There are definitely elements in America that take this perverse and disturbing position. They have tried to get laws passed to this effect. I don’t believe it is anything like 30% of the USA tho
Mississippi House Speaker says 12-year-old incest victims should continue pregnancies to term
https://thehill.com/policy/3541783-mississippi-house-speaker-says-12-year-old-incest-victims-should-continue-pregnancies-to-term/
The economy and good governance is secondary.
LAB: 41% (-1)
CON: 34% (+3)
LDM: 10% (=)
SNP: 5% (+1)
GRN: 5% (=)
Via @SavantaComRes, 24-26 Jun.
Changes w/ 17-19 Jun.
ComRes back in the herd
Hardcore pro life means believing all abortion is murder and must be illegal so the opposite of this - hardcore pro choice - would be a belief that all abortion is fine, ie there should be no controls or prohibitions whatsoever even in very late pregnancy.
That isn't a 30% belief surely.
Despite the divisions in this country I'm glad abortion and gun rights aren't issues in this country.
We can still have a sensible discussion about both.
We should be proud that our Prime Minister is someone whose mistress had at least one abortion during their affair and it isn't an issue.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/29/ruthlessly-organised-tory-rebels-plot-1922-takeover-to-oust-boris-johnson
I’m a bit sceptical about the existence of organised Tories, but interesting…
“Take a look at what happened, for example, after another close call with an extreme pro-choice bill. Virginia legislators debated a bill similar to New York’s. The bill was tabled, but in the midst of the hubbub Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said, in response to a question about what would happen if an infant survived an attempted abortion, that “the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.””
https://www.thebulwark.com/politics-of-abortion-are-polarized/
However. They haven't established what the dividing line is clearly enough here.
Simple, visceral hatred of Trade Unions has no resonance for those under 45.
Neither does simple, visceral fear of inflation.
Of course. 5% is a wages/ prices policy. But at least it is a figure folk can get their head around as a target. Something younger people do understand.
> Hardcore pro-choicers might well have caveats, questions, even objections pertaining to abortion conditions & limits, but would still VOTE in a solidly pro-choice way for reasonably pro-choice candidates.
> Hardcore anti-abortionists would take the opposite tack, perhaps having specific issues & objections, but subsuming them in their VOTING behavior.
I find that as disturbing as the other extreme, who want abortion made illegal even with rape and incest
Hideous polarisation
Over the past fifty years, abortion access has generally increased and increased across the world. (With the exception being the end of RvW in the US.) And, of course, support for legal abortion is currently at an all time high in the US.
BUT...
In the vast majority of countries and states, "abortion on demand" is limited to 22 weeks or less (and in most cases 12-14 weeks).
The exception being Alaska. Where it is simply "viability". Which out in the wilds is presumably the 23rd or 24th trimester.
A week is a long time etc.
I see Aaron Bell is thinking of throwing his hat into the 1922 ring.
What *exactly* is Sefcovic whinging about now? And why does he think he has a remit over UK internal rules? Or is this just bog-standard Brussels performative sabre-rattling?
What the UK does in the UK is little to do with him, and we know that exporters to the EU need to comply with EU rules.
So the workers who pay for the pensioners have to earn less and pay more task for the Tory client vote.
They can get fucked.
For context, 40% of people don’t use trains at all. And only 30% took more than about 5 trains all year.
Edit: the overground caveat may be inportant: are they striking?
Keep in mind, that in the USA this issue has been been bubbling up - and often over - for half century now. And not only are voters pushed to take a stand, and then some, but they are very rarely able to vote on specific options or conditions. Instead, these are mostly fodder for political debates and campaign commercials.
So IF you cannot have YOUR perfect compromise, but are more-or-less compelled to make the comprise internally with yourself - the question usually boils down to - WHICH side are you on?
Binary not multiple choice.
I'm just trying to answer the question "What is the government doing about strikes?"
Which is above my pay grade (which is nowt), and not really in my interests, cos I want the shower out.
We saw the same god-awful process with Brexit. I am a Soft Leaver, who could have voted Remain on the day. I wanted us to stay in the Single Market - EEA/EFTA - and then rethink in 5-10 years. Avoiding so much anguish
Not ideal but a decent compromise, honouring the vote without driving Remainers into a frenzy
Instead both sides pushed each other - egged on by the worst in both of them - until the Remainers were literally trying to annul the vote and cancel democracy and the Leavers decided any Brexit is better than none (and better than destroying democracy) and so here we are
Repeat across western nations in many debates. Polarisation. It is a bane
He was a strong conservative, but the issue of abortion was neither defining for him nor, at that time, conservatives.
But it is Brussels's default mode, as I know, having dealt with it for years in a previous job.
The median rail industry worker involved in the strike earns around £38k per year, or £730 per week.
https://fullfact.org/economy/RMT-strike-salary/
Increasing State Pensions faster than inflation is fully justified, even though it has not been done here.